binary fission

American  

noun

Biology.

1. fission into two organisms approximately equal in size.

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binary fission British  

noun

1. asexual reproduction in unicellular organisms by division into two daughter cells

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Etymology

Origin of binary fission

First recorded in 1895–1900

Example Sentences

Genes for antibiotic resistance are transferred from the nonpathogenic bacterium to a pathogenic bacterium via binary fission.

From Textbooks • Jun. 9, 2022

Name the processes that eukaryotic cell division and binary fission have in common.

From Textbooks • Jun. 9, 2022

The micronucleus is essential for sexual reproduction, whereas the macronucleus directs asexual binary fission and all other biological functions.

From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2015

When another tsetse fly bites the infected person, it takes up the pathogen, which then multiplies by binary fission in the fly’s midgut.

From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2015

This organism is remarkable in one or two ways: it possesses a contractile vacuole; the amoeboid trophozoites tend to form plasmodia; and the spores, of the usual simple type, may apparently divide by binary fission.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 9, Slice 3 "Electrostatics" to "Engis" by Various